Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Source: ALA 2012
Rating: 
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Fierce, seductive mermaid Syrenka falls in love with Ezra, a young naturalist. When she abandons her life underwater for a chance at happiness on land, she is unaware that this decision comes with horrific and deadly consequences.
Almost one hundred forty years later, seventeen-year-old Hester meets a mysterious stranger named Ezra and feels overwhelmingly, inexplicably drawn to him. For generations, love has resulted in death for the women in her family. Is it an undiagnosed genetic defect . . . or a curse? With Ezra’s help, Hester investigates her family’s strange, sad history. The answers she seeks are waiting in the graveyard, the crypt, and at the bottom of the ocean—but powerful forces will do anything to keep her from uncovering her connection to Syrenka and to the tragedy of so long ago. – Goodreads
Review:
Although I read plenty of paranormal books, mermaids are one creature that never quite caught my interest. Many mermaid books seem fun, but after having studied Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” a few years ago, I felt I needed a darker edge in my YA introduction to them. So, I waited and Elizabeth Fama’s Monstrous Beauty seemed to fit the description. The verdict? Way to set the bar, Elizabeth Fama!
Elizabeth Fama’s prose is beautiful and it was the main highlight of Monstrous Beauty for me. I am envious of her talent and the way she made her book atmospheric with her poetic use of words. She had seamless transitions between the alternating time periods and the right amount of an eerie undercurrent throughout. The two main characters, Syrenka and Hester, were very different from each other but their stories came together in a satisfying way. I must admit that I was partial to Syrenka’s chapters, as she was such a layered and mysterious character, and, HELLO, a mermaid, but Hester grew on me somewhat as the story progressed.
The only real issue I found with Monstrous Beauty was the mystery. Though Elizabeth Fama did a great job transitioning between the past and the present, it was too easy for me to piece together all of the details and I found it frustrating when Hester didn’t do the same. If it wasn’t for that predictability, I think this would have been rated higher for me.
All that said, Elizabeth Fama has a beautiful and haunting book in Monstrous Beauty and I appreciate the darkness she offered for my first YA mermaid read.
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About Stephanie
Oooooh, I am stoked to hear that this was good because I am definitely iffy about mermaid books. I’ve only read a couple and one was an old school 90s one (which was alright) and the other was a YA, but I was not a fan… SO FYEAH! I’m also extremely intrigued by the whole past vs. future tragedy curse deal. Needless to say, I will definitely be checking this out.
This looks so good, so I’m glad you enjoyed it, although I completely understand how frustrating it is when a character puts things together soooo slowly. I always want to read Mermaid books and never actually do, BUT I’m reading Fathomless this week and I’m planning on reading Mermaid’s Mirror soon.
Interesting. I’ve been seeing mixed responses to this book, and that always makes me more curious about books! I don’t read mermaid books all that often, but this may just be one of the books I’d pick up.
I have yet to read a YA mermaid story. This may be my first. It sounds a lot better constructed than most of the other ones. Going back and forth between the past and present sounds intriguing. And I agree – that is frustrating when you feel like the protagonist is super slow to catch on to something!
If memory serves, I’ve only read one YA mermaid book and that was very recently: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks. Which I so enjoyed and has made me want to try more fishy reads.
I’m definitely up for a darker take on mermaids and Monstrous Beauty is clearly the obvious choice!! So intrigued by this and especially Syrenka’s character. While a shame that the mystery was easy to guess, it makes me insanely happy to hear everything else delivered for you. Fantastic review, I’m looking forward to reading it myself!!
Steph, it souns AMAZING. I’ve only read one mermaid book… no… wait. One and a half–I read part of…. um… Deep… something? I CAN’T BELIEVE I DON’T REMEMBER THE NAME O__O
Anyway, I’m LOVING the idea of the darkness in this–the original mermaid lore and mystery and WOW. Shame the mystery was a little predictable, but it sounds likit makes up for it :)
Uh-oh…it’s always a problem for me when I can predict a mystery. It is, in fact, one of my BIGGEST pet peeves, but I’m hoping I enjoy this book despite that. It seems to be such a unique and well-written story, so I’ll definitely have to check it out ASAP! Wonderful review, Steph!(:
~Keertana
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